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The Great Northern War
Though the Great Northern War started in 1700, the causes of it had been fermenting throughout the 1690's. An anti-Swedish coalition was created from 1697 to 1699 and included Russia, Denmark and Saxony-Poland. All three states believed that a fifteen years old king - Charles XII - would be an soft target. They also had a shared belief that Sweden by the 1690's was a spent force and that her territory was waiting to be cut up by a superior force. -
The Decembrist Revolt
3000 members of military staged an uprising against the newly-appointed Tsar Nicholas I, in opposition to his conservative views. The results of this revolt would soon grow into something much larger and would lead to the beginning of revolutionary sentiment among the people of Imperial Russia. -
Alexander II Emancipates The Serfs
The existence of serfdom was tackled boldly, taking advantage of a petition presented by the Polish landed proprietors of the Lithuanian provinces and, hoping that their relations with the serfs might be regulated in a more satisfactory way (meaning in a way more satisfactory for the proprietors), he authorised the formation of committees "for ameliorating the condition of the peasants," and laid down the principles on which the amelioration was to be effected. -
Assasination of Alexander II
Cold WarKennedy proposes Alliance for Progress, 1961CrimeBlack magic, voodoo, and murder occurs at Rancho Santa Elena, 1989DisasterQuake rocks Turkey, 1992General InterestWilliam Hershel discovers Uranus, 1781Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson begins, 1868Czar Alexander II assassinated, 1881Tragedy at Dunblane, 1996HollywoodDisney names Robert Iger as new chief executive, 2005LiteraryHenrik Ibsen's play Ghosts opens in London, 1891MusicEric Clapton leaves the Yardbirds, 1965Old WestHouston ret -
The Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was "the first great war of the 20th century."[3] It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, specifically the area around the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden; and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea. -
Bloody Sunday
As the huge crowd marched through St Petersburg to the Winter Palace, they were confronted by troops who were understandably nervous having to face such a large crowd. The evidence as to why the soldiers fired on the peaceful crowd is patchy - such as who gave the command (if one was ever given) - but after the firing had finished several hundred protestors lay dead. The tragedy was quickly called "Bloody Sunday". Revolutionary parties inflated the number of deaths to thousands. Rumours were spr -
The Russian Revoltion 1905
The 1905 Russian Revolution was sparked off by a peaceful protest held on January 22nd. This protest may well have been the turning point in the relationship the tsar, Nicholas II, enjoyed with his people. Led by a Russian Orthodox priest, Father Gapon, 150,000 people took to the cold and snow covered streets of St Petersburg to protest about their lifestyle. They were not intent on making any form of political protest in the sense of calling for the overthrow of the government or royal family. -
Czar NIcholas II Abdicates The Throne
In 1914, Nicholas led his country into a costly war, and discontent in Russia grew as food became scarce, soldiers became war-weary, and devastating defeats on the eastern front demonstrated the czar's ineffectual leadership.
In March 1917, the army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms, and Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. He was replaced by a provincial government -
World War 1
In 1914 the Russian government considered Germany to be the main threat to its territory. This was reinforced by Germany's decision to form the Triple Alliance. Under the terms of this military alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia. In 1907 Russia joined Britain and France to form the Triple Entente. -
The March Revolution
The First World War placed an unbearable strain on Russia's weak government and economy, resulting in mass shortages and hunger.In the meantime, the mismanagement and failures of the war turned the people - and importantly the soldiers - against the Tsar, whose decision to take personal command of the army seemed to make him personally responsible for the defeats. In March 1917, the Tsar lost control first of the streets, then of the soldiers, and finally of the Duma, resulting
